Civic groups on Tuesday demanded changes to a draft bill approved by the Cabinet to prevent the misuse of sexually explicit images, including the addition of stronger penalties for using such content for purposes of blackmail.
In March of this year, the Cabinet approved draft changes to the Criminal Code and three other laws aimed, among other things, at strengthening penalties for making or selling images or videos of another person without their consent.
The draft bills were proposed after the arrest last year of a Taiwanese YouTuber for making and selling “deepfake” pornography videos of dozens of prominent women, including female politicians.
At a press conference Tuesday, groups including the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation and the Judicial Reform Foundation called on the Legislature to address “gaps” in the draft bill before it is passed into law.
Among the groups’ proposals was the addition of a rule requiring internet platforms to remove sexual content within 24 hours of receiving a request to do so from a victim or the police.
According to media reports, the 24-hour clause was pulled from the version passed by the Cabinet amid fears it would be difficult to enforce, as many internet platforms are based abroad, making communication slower. It was replaced with the vaguer term “immediately.”
The groups also recommended a range of new penalties for instances in which sexually explicit images are used as leverage to threaten or extort a victim, including a proposed maximum three-year prison sentence for threatening to post them online.
Meanwhile, using such images to extort a victim for sex or to get back together should be punishable by up to five years in prison, while extorting them for money or property should be punishable by up to seven years in prison, they said.
Because of Taiwan’s lack of a specific legal framework for dealing with “digital sexual violence,” such behavior can currently only be prosecuted as criminal “threats,” and punished by a maximum of two years in prison, noted Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜).
Meanwhile, Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) said the bill is “the most important” item on the agenda in the current legislative term, and urged lawmakers to work with the Cabinet to revise it before it comes up for debate.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel